Inner Speech as a Primary Self-Regulatory Mechanism in Addictions Recovery.

Smolucha, Larry

This paper presents a brief research synopsis of social speech, noting that the internalization of social speech plays an important role in the self-regulation of the personality. It then examines the phenomenon of relapse in alcohol addiction from the perspective of psycholinguistic research on inner speech, and suggests that maladaptive patterns of inner speech (arising from maladaptive patterns of social speech and self-talk) play a synergistic role in the inability of most addicts to maintain long-term sobriety. Filed observations of alcoholics-in-recovery are presented that suggest that dysfunctional patterns of inner speech may contribute to the high rates of relapse among recovering alcoholics. Approaches to further empirical study of this phenomenon are discussed, as are some practical treatment approaches which involve changing addicts' patterns of self-talk. It is suggested in a section on milieu restructuring that some of the standard patterns of interaction adopted by traditional 12-step self-help groups may need to be modified, eliminated, or instituted within a more controlled context. The paper concludes that, through better self-management, a more directed therapeutic approach which focuses on the replacement of dysfunctional patterns of social speech with more adaptation-favoring patterns of self-regulatory speech and thinking is recommended. (NB)